Was America Attacked by Muslims on 9/11?

by David Ray Griffin

Much of America's foreign policy since 9/11 has been based on the assumption
that it was attacked by Muslims on that day. This assumption was used, most
prominently, to justify the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. It is now widely
agreed that the use of 9/11 as a basis for attacking Iraq was illegitimate:
none of the hijackers were Iraqis, there was no working relation between
Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden, and Iraq was not behind the anthrax
attacks. But it is still widely believed that the US attack on Afghanistan
was justified. For example, the New York Times, while referring to the US
attack on Iraq as a "war of choice," calls the battle in Afghanistan a "war
of necessity." Time magazine has dubbed it "the right war." And Barack Obama
says that one reason to wind down our involvement in Iraq is to have the
troops and resources to "go after the people in Afghanistan who actually
attacked us on 9/11."

The assumption that America was attacked by Muslims on 9/11 also lies behind
the widespread perception of Islam as an inherently violent religion and
therefore of Muslims as guilty until proven innocent. This perception surely
contributed to attempts to portray Obama as a Muslim, which was lampooned by
a controversial cartoon on the July 21, 2008, cover of The New Yorker.

As could be illustrated by reference to many other post-9/11 developments,
including as spying, torture, extraordinary rendition, military tribunals,
America's new doctrine of preemptive war, and its enormous increase in
military spending, the assumption that the World Trade Center and the
Pentagon were attacked by Muslim hijackers has had enormous negative
consequences for both international and domestic issues.1

Is it conceivable that this assumption might be false? Insofar as Americans
and Canadians would say "No," they would express their belief that this
assumption is not merely an "assumption" but is instead based on strong
evidence. When actually examined, however, the proffered evidence turns out
to be remarkably weak. I will illustrate this point by means of 16
questions. . . .

15. Could al-Qaeda Operatives Have Brought Down the World Trade Center
Buildings? . . .

16. Would al-Qaeda Operatives Have Imploded the Buildings? . . .

Conclusion

All the proffered evidence that America was attacked by Muslims on 9/11,
when subjected to critical scrutiny, appears to have been fabricated. If
that is determined indeed to be the case, the implications would be
enormous. Discovering and prosecuting the true perpetrators of the 9/11
attacks would obviously be important. The most immediate consequence,
however, should be to reverse those attitudes and policies that have been
based on the assumption that America was attacked by Muslims on 9/11.